Synopsis from Amazon:
When Mike Noonan’s wife dies, he is drawn to their summer home in the town of Sara Laughs. He finds the town in the grip of millionaire Max Devore, who is hell-bent on getting custody of his deceased son’s child. Kyra and her mother turn to Mike for help, but there are sinister forces in their way.

My thoughts:

I finished Bag of Bones last night and really really enjoyed it.

It was a bit of a slow burner in the begining but I stuck with it and glad I did. A good ghost story which scared me in places. One big twist in it that I really was not expecting and it really quite upset me!

This book to me seemed different to other Stephen King books I have read; I found this one an easier read than some of his others and the romantic element made a nice change.

The characters were well written especially little Kyra, who you couldn’t help but fall in love with!

I give this book an 8 ½ out of 10, it would have been higher if the book had held my attention better in the begining.

My thoughts:
Well the one word that comes to mind is ‘WOW’. I finished all 540 pages in under four days which for me is quick! I normally don’t like this type of book as I just cannot read about sexual abuse in children and luckily although there was some in this book it was written about very well and not in too much detail. The book is mainly about Cupcake’s battle with every drug going. Also as the book was set in the ghettos of America it is just so different to anything I have ever known.

A truly inspiring book but I can’t say too much about it as I wouldn’t want to ruin it for anyone else. I would definately recommend this to everyone to give it a go.

Set during World War 1 and 2, the book tells the tale of a family being torn about in what was a very difficult time in history. The characters were all very well written and the description of the wars particually the 2nd World War were excellently written. It gave you a feeling of what it would have been like living in London during the Blitz. The hardship, the bombings, the every day jobs all told with a sense of you were really there. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom, there were fun times and the good old british spirit was shown well. The book had a few twists and turns, some of which I wouldn’t have guessed were coming and overall a good story set in a time of great sadness and uncertainty.

I would definately recommend this book and will be looking out for more of Judith Lennox’s work.

I’ve been tagged by Michelle, who’s blog can be found here

1. Who is your all-time favourite author, and why?

That is a very hard question and not one I think I can answer. I like such a variety of fiction that to pick one author would be too difficult!

2. Who was your first favourite author, and why?  Do you still consider him or her among your favourites?

My first favourite author was Virgina Andrews and the Flowers in the Attic series. I don’t know why I started reading these books but I still have them on my bookshelf 17 years later!

3. Who’s the most recent addition to your list of favourite authors, and why?

It has to be Raven Hart and the Savannah Vampire Cronicles series. I love love love this series of books and I would definately class Raven as one of my favourite authors ever!

4. If someone asked you who your favourite authors were right now, which authors would first pop out of your mouth?  Are there any you’d add on a moment of further reflection?

Hmm let me think…..Raven Hart, Barbara Erskine, Jean Auel, Martina Cole, James Herbert and Sarah Pinborough. I am sure I have left someone out but these are the ones that spring to mind.

The rules:
Link to the person that tagged you, post the rules somewhere in your meme, answer the Author questions, tag some people in your post, let the tagees know they’ve been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog, let the tagger know your entry is posted.

Tagged:
In the wee hours

Life gets in the way

External Appearance

It should have been an ordinary birth, the start of an ordinary happy family. But the night Dr David Henry delivers his wife’s twins is a night that will haunt five lives forever.

For though David’s son is a healthy boy, his daughter has Downs Syndrome. And, in a shocking act of betrayal whose consequences only time will reveal, he tells his wife their daughter died while secretly entrusting her care to a nurse.

As grief quietly tears apart Davd’s family, so a little girl must make her own way in the world the best she can.

My thoughts:

I have had to give this review a lot of thought as this book deserves the very best. This is a very moving story which is I think tragic yet not depressing. Phoebe, the daughter is such a beautiful character who I found inspiring and was written in such a way that the innocence of Downs Syndrome was made very believable in this book.

Each of the characters had their own traits both good and bad and you couldn’t help but feel sorrow for the unfairness of their lives. I was pulled in from page one and would highly recommend this book and give it a 10/10.

Well what a week! But what a lovely one. Here’s what has been happening:

New home - I have had my new sofa, armchair and storage foot stall delivered on Monday. They are stone in colour and just the most gorgeous things you have ever seen! So now I have neutral furniture I can FINALLY redecorate my lounge in ‘plum’. So I ordered some aubergine curtains and new voiles on Monday. I was told there was an eight week wait so imagine my joy when I got home yesterday and found a note saying they had been left with a neighbour! So as they had arrived I then went and got some paint which I liked and this evening I have been painting a feature wall ‘juniperberry’ which is a browny purple and matches my curtains perfectly!

New hair - On Wednesday I went for my regular hair colour and had lots and lots of pink streaks put in as well. They actually look really really good and I havn’t washed my hair since as I don’t want them to faid…..

New car - Today I picked up a lovely shiny new car! It’s all clean and gleaming and has that new car smell. It is lovely to finally have a car with the ‘mod cons’ such as remote central locking and electric windows! But one of the best features is the quickclear windscreen, which will be very handy in the winter to get rid of the pesky frost, ice and snow!

New books - I have received three review books this week and one book from Read it swap it. The review books are: Lost and Found by Jacqueline Sheehan, The Ingenious Edgar Jones by Elizabeth Garner and Before the Storm by Judith Lennox and the RISI book is A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown. All of these books look very good so I can’t wait to get started on them!

Old friend - An old friend who I went to college with tracked me down yesterday on Friends Reunited. I was so touched that she went to the effort to find me as I am only listed on there for my senior school, not college. We have been exchanging emails since then catching up on the last 15 years and even better she is on Facebook as well! The only bad bit is she now lives in India so I don’t reckon I will be seeing her anytime soon!

The only bad thing about this week is the weather…what’s happened to it? This time last week we were basking in temperatures of 26 degrees and today it was 13 degrees and I was blimming freezing…..

Synopsis from Amazon:

“The Pillars of the Earth” tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known; of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect - a man divided in his soul; of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame; and of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state, and brother against brother. A spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of twelfth-century England, this is Ken Follett’s historical masterpiece.

My thoughts:

What a wonderful book!

Set in the twelfth century, Ken Follett tells what it would have been like to live in this time. The poverty, the living accomodations, the fighting were all told in great detail.

The characters were brilliantly written and the book flowed from one character to another very well. Some of the characters you couldn’t help but love but some, including one in particular was pure evil and another was very cunning in the worse possible ways.

Even though this book was a mammouth 1,075 pages long, I was still turning the pages as if it had only just begun. Ken Follett keeps your attention right to the last page and to be honest I didn’t want this book to end. I am going to miss it!

10/10

As of today I am now a Reviewer for the BCF Review website found here

I am very excited as I am passionate about my books and to review books is just great!

So if you should have stumbled across my blog and would like me or any of the other reviewers to review your book, drop us a line!

I don’t normally write reviews but this book has had such an effect on me that I wanted to share my thoughts on it.

The first 100 pages are about Slash’s childhood, his upbringing and his family life which ultimately influenced his decision to become a musician but also contributed to his drug taking.

The next 200 pages or so are about Slash’s continuing battle with heroin addiction during Guns n’ Roses early days. There are some particularly harrowing moments including one incident where Slash was hallucinating and was running through a hotel complex naked as he thought demons were chasing him. After several failed attempts Slash finally beat his heroin addiction but unfortunately replaced it with alcohol.

It was lovely to read about how he and Perla met and their children.

Since reading this book I have found myself listening to all of the Guns n’ Roses albums again, watching their videos, looking at the CD covers and finding pictures of Slash as I now know what was going on in their lives at the time that they were recorded/taken.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book even though at times it was quite dark.

9/10